Nocturnal Media announces an agreement with John Doe Editions of France to publish their noir-inspired tabletop roleplaying game, Hellywood. Described by designer Emmanuel Gharbi as his “love cry” to the noir and hardboiled genres, the game is set in 1949 in the California city of Heaven Harbor, nicknamed “Hellywood”.

Originally published in France in 2008, Hellywood is supported by a GM Screen, several scenarios and the forthcoming Justice of Angels, a 12-part campaign. Translation of all of this material is underway, and following a crowdfunding project on Kickstarter, it will soon be available in English from Nocturnal Media.

The inhabitants of Heaven Harbor live in the shadows of a city consumed by corruption, greed, and violence. And this is before the so-called “Day of Ashes” in 1942 when the sky rained ashes for an entire day and something happened and Hell itself seemed suddenly closer. From south of downtown, in a ghetto now known as the Forbidden City, emerged the “hornheads”. These non-human creatures quickly insinuated themselves into all the seedy, corrupt and illegal operations of Heaven Harbor.

Players of Hellywood assume the roles of tough guys or girls making a living in the Heaven Harbor. They are the cops, bouncers, bums, thugs, artists, bartenders, and other everyday people who are trying to make sense of and hopefully survive events swirling around them that inevitably involve them. You may even opt for the role of a “hornhead” — a golem, succubus, seraphim or possessed — but the events of the Day of Ashes have left you as nearly in the dark as everyone else… and just as uncertain of whether true demons exist or not.

The Gamemaster (called the “Voice-over” in Hellywood) has the amazingly detailed city of Heaven Harbor at his or her disposal. The core rulebook contains eight pre-generated characters and two scenarios in addition to all the rules to play, though the organization of the material might change for the English edition or as a result of Kickstarter stretch goals.

In what may be a first, Nocturnal Media and John Doe Editions will launch parallel crowdfunding projects on Wednesday May 26th. The Nocturnal Media project will seek to fund English-language editions of all Hellywood products on Kickstarter, while John Doe Editions seeks funding for Justice of Angels and a new edition of the core rulebook on the French site Black Book Editions. Both projects are stand-alone, but there will be joint stretch goals unlocked for backers based on the combined funding of the two projects.

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All the latest news from Nocturnal Media scrolls down the screen at the left, but in addition to announcements and updates, this section contains blog-like material by Stewart Wieck, owner of Nocturnal Media. These more personal pieces could have a section of their own, but it seemed better to consider them in the context of the concurrent news. In this way, the business information and the blog entries together form a sort of digital history of Nocturnal Media and game-designer & author Stewart Wieck.